Delphi

The site climbs a steep mountainside above a sea of olive groves, and the Sacred Way zigzags up past temple terraces toward the columns of Apollo's temple.

The setting does most of the work: sheer grey cliffs rise behind the ruins, and the valley falls away for miles toward the Gulf of Corinth.

The theatre and stadium sit higher still, and the climb to them is rewarded with the best overview of the whole sanctuary spread out below.

In the museum the bronze Charioteer and the twin kouroi turn the abstract history outside into real, human faces that have survived, astonishingly, for well over two thousand years.

The sanctuary at Delphi contains the ruins of a theatre and stadium where the Pythian Games were held, as well as the Temple of Apollo itself, rebuilt in the 4th century BC after an earlier 6th-century temple was destroyed by an earthquake, its remaining Doric columns still visible today.

The ancient site also includes the Marmaria sanctuary to the west, home to the Tholos and the only round building in the sanctuary complex, and the Castalian Spring where pilgrims were required to wash before consulting the Oracle.

For a thousand years this was the spiritual centre of the Greek world, where city-states came to consult the oracle before major decisions.

The combination of important ruins and a spectacular mountain setting makes it one of the most atmospheric archaeological sites in Greece.

The adjoining museum holds some of the finest surviving Greek bronze and sculpture, so the visit rewards both walkers and art lovers.

Delphi was considered the omphalos — the navel of the Greek world — and its sanctuary to Apollo hosted the Pythian Games and the Pythia, the most authoritative prophetic voice in the ancient Mediterranean whose consultations shaped decisions of kings and city-states.